Hawks coach Rob Beveridge slammed his squad’s first quarter intensity as he was left to lament another slow start in a 90-81 loss to undermanned Perth Wildcats at WIN Entertainment Centre on Sunday.
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Perth outscored the Hawks 36-21 in the first quarter and the hosts never recovered on a frustrating evening at home. The Wildcats were missing skipper Damian Martin (calf), import Terrico White (hamstring) and starting big-man Angus Brandt (ankle), but never trailed in the match after a commanding first quarter.
“I just thought we got completely outworked with the energy, enthusiasm, rebounding and the loose balls. All of those things and that’s what is really disappointing to me as a coach,” Beveridge said.
“We have to be locked in right from the very start.”
Perth’s reigning NBL MVP Bryce Cotton and bench weapon Clint Steindl put the Hawks to the sword in a dominant first half display.
Cotton had 10 of his game-high 19 points in the first period while Steindl nailed 5/7 from three point range to finish with 18 points.
Hawks swingman Todd Blanchfield (16 points) caught fire late to share the scoring load with former MVP Cedric Jackson (16 points).
Former Hawk Nick Kay (18 points, 10 rebounds) had the visitors first four points, including a fast-break dunk, which helped inspire an 8-0 run to start. Cotton hit a pair from the charity stripe to give Perth a 21-14 lead before Steindl found his range from beyond the arc.
The former Townsville Crocodiles sharpshooter hit a perfect 4/4 from downtown in the first quarter to propel Perth to a 36-21 at the first break. He hit his fifth three less than a minute into the second quarter as Perth continued to outwork the Hawks inside and out.
Illawarra finished with just one offensive rebound in the first half, but trailed by just 12 points at the main change after a late driving lay-up from Jackson.
It took until the seventh minute of the third for that margin to come down to single digits, moments after Jordair Jett’s steal was rewarded with a lay-up through contact.
A textbook move inside from Boomers representative Mitch Norton helped restore Perth’s advantage at 71-59 heading into the fourth.
Illawarra started the fourth with consecutive turnovers before a rare three from Emmett Naar settled the hosts.
They’d need more than that to pull off a miracle comeback and got it when Blanchfield landed back-to-back threes. His effort narrowed the margin to six points with 5:36 remaining the match, but it proved to be too little, too late for the Hawks.
“I was proud of the way we fought back, but it is just not good enough that we let ourselves down like [we did early on],” Beveridge said.
Perth coach Trevor Gleeson praised the character of his understrength team.
“It was a gutsy win,” he said. “If you had of told me that when Angus went down, you are going to win both games, I would have thought it very optimistic.”